# 1964 New York Yankees season

The 1964 New York Yankees season was the 62nd season for the Yankees. The team finished with a record of 99–63, winning their 29th pennant, finishing 1 game ahead of the Chicago White Sox. New York was managed by Yogi Berra. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium. In the World Series, they were defeated by the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games. It would also be their last postseason appearance until 1976.
Yogi Berra, taking over as manager from Ralph Houk, who in turn moved up to general manager, had a difficult early season, with many veterans missing games due to injury. Doubts about his ability to manage his former teammates were brought into the open with the Harmonica Incident in late August, in which he clashed with utility infielder Phil Linz on the team bus following a sweep by the Chicago White Sox that appeared to have removed the Yankees from pennant contention. The team rallied behind Berra afterwards, and won the pennant. However the incident may have convinced the team's executives to replace Berra with Johnny Keane, manager of the victorious Cardinals, after the season.
This season is considered to be the endpoint of the "Old Yankees" dynasty that had begun with the Ruppert–Huston partnership and then continued with the Topping–Webb partnership. The Yankees would soon undergo ownership changes and front office turmoil, and would not be a serious factor in the pennant chase again until the mid-1970s. For television viewers and radio listeners, the sudden removal of Mel Allen following that season marked the end of an era of Yankees television and radio broadcasts.

## Offseason

* November 30, 1963: Marshall Bridges was purchased from the Yankees by the Washington Senators.

## Regular season

On September 26, Mel Stottlemyre went 5 for 5, drove in two runs, and threw a two-hit shutout.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 99 | 63 | .611 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 49‍–‍32 |
| Chicago White Sox | 98 | 64 | .605 | 1 | 52‍–‍29 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 97 | 65 | .599 | 2 | 49‍–‍32 | 48‍–‍33 |
| Detroit Tigers | 85 | 77 | .525 | 14 | 46‍–‍35 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 82 | 80 | .506 | 17 | 45‍–‍36 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Cleveland Indians | 79 | 83 | .488 | 20 | 41‍–‍40 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Minnesota Twins | 79 | 83 | .488 | 20 | 40‍–‍41 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Boston Red Sox | 72 | 90 | .444 | 27 | 45‍–‍36 | 27‍–‍54 |
| Washington Senators | 62 | 100 | .383 | 37 | 31‍–‍50 | 31‍–‍50 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 57 | 105 | .352 | 42 | 26‍–‍55 | 31‍–‍50 |

### Record vs. opponents

1964 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA | MIN | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 13–5–1 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 13–5 |
| Boston | 7–11 | — | 4–14 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 12–6 |
| Chicago | 8–10 | 14–4 | — | 12–6 | 11–7 | 16–2 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 12–6 |
| Cleveland | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–12 | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 10–8–1 | 3–15–1 | 11–7 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 13–5 | 7–11 | 7–11 | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 8–10–1 | 11–7 |
| Kansas City | 5–13–1 | 6–12 | 2–16 | 8–10 | 7–11 | — | 6–12 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 8–10 |
| Los Angeles | 7–11 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 12–6 | — | 12–6 | 7–11 | 10–8 |
| Minnesota | 8–10 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 8–10–1 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 6–12 | — | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| New York | 8–10 | 9–9 | 12–6 | 15–3–1 | 10–8–1 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 10–8 | — | 12–6 |
| Washington | 5–13 | 6–12 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 6–12 | — |

### Notable transactions

* September 5, 1964: The Yankees traded players to be named later and $75,000 to the Cleveland Indians for Pedro Ramos. The Yankees completed the trade by sending Ralph Terry to the Indians on October 21 and Bud Daley to the Indians on November 27.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Elston Howard | 150 | 550 | 172 | .313 | 15 | 84 |
| 1B | Joe Pepitone | 160 | 613 | 154 | .251 | 28 | 100 |
| 2B | Bobby Richardson | 159 | 679 | 181 | .267 | 4 | 50 |
| 3B | Clete Boyer | 147 | 510 | 111 | .218 | 8 | 52 |
| SS | Tony Kubek | 106 | 415 | 95 | .229 | 8 | 31 |
| LF | Tom Tresh | 153 | 533 | 131 | .246 | 16 | 73 |
| CF | Mickey Mantle | 143 | 465 | 141 | .303 | 35 | 111 |
| RF | Roger Maris | 141 | 513 | 144 | .281 | 26 | 71 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Phil Linz | 112 | 368 | 92 | .250 | 5 | 25 |
| Héctor López | 127 | 285 | 74 | .260 | 10 | 34 |
| Johnny Blanchard | 77 | 161 | 41 | .255 | 7 | 28 |
| Pedro González | 80 | 112 | 31 | .277 | 0 | 5 |
| Archie Moore | 31 | 23 | 4 | .174 | 0 | 1 |
| Jake Gibbs | 3 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Elvio Jimenez | 1 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Harry Bright | 4 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Hegan | 5 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Roger Repoz | 11 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Jim Bouton | 38 | 271.1 | 18 | 13 | 3.02 | 125 |
| Whitey Ford | 39 | 244.2 | 17 | 6 | 2.13 | 172 |
| Al Downing | 37 | 244.0 | 13 | 8 | 3.47 | 217 |
| Mel Stottlemyre | 13 | 96.0 | 9 | 3 | 2.06 | 49 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Ralph Terry | 27 | 114.0 | 7 | 11 | 4.54 | 77 |
| Rollie Sheldon | 19 | 102.1 | 5 | 2 | 3.61 | 57 |
| Stan Williams | 21 | 82.0 | 1 | 5 | 3.84 | 54 |
| Bud Daley | 13 | 35.0 | 3 | 2 | 4.63 | 16 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Pete Mikkelsen | 50 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 3.56 | 63 |
| Hal Reniff | 41 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 3.12 | 38 |
| Bill Stafford | 31 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 2.67 | 39 |
| Steve Hamilton | 30 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 3.28 | 49 |
| Pedro Ramos | 13 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1.25 | 21 |
| Bob Meyer | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4.91 | 12 |

## 1964 World Series

With this 4–3 World Series victory, the Cardinals gained a 3–2 edge in overall Series wins over the Yankees, the first time any team had an overall edge against the Yankees since the 1920s. As of 2022, the Cardinals remain the only one of the "classic eight" National League teams to hold an edge over the Yankees.
NL St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (3) :
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance | Time of game |
| 1 | Yankees – 5, Cardinals – 9 | October 7 | Busch Stadium I | 30,805 | 2:42 |
| 2 | Yankees – 8, Cardinals – 3 | October 8 | Busch Stadium I | 30,805 | 2:29 |
| 3 | Cardinals – 1, Yankees – 2 | October 10 | Yankee Stadium | 67,101 | 2:16 |
| 4 | Cardinals – 4, Yankees – 3 | October 11 | Yankee Stadium | 66,312 | 2:18 |
| 5 | Cardinals – 5, Yankees – 2 | October 12 | Yankee Stadium | 65,633 | 2:37 |
| 6 | Yankees – 8, Cardinals – 3 | October 14 | Busch Stadium I | 30,805 | 2:37 |
| 7 | Yankees – 5, Cardinals – 7 | October 15 | Busch Stadium I | 30,346 | 2:40 |

## Awards and honors

* Elston Howard, Gold Glove
* 1964 MLB All-Star Game
** Whitey Ford, All-Star Game
** Elston Howard, All-Star Game
** Mickey Mantle, All-Star Game
** Joe Pepitone, All-Star Game
** Bobby Richardson, All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Richmond Virginians | International League | Preston Gómez |
| AA | Columbus Confederate Yankees | Southern League | Rube Walker |
| A | Greensboro Yankees | Carolina League | Loren Babe |
| A | Fort Lauderdale Yankees | Florida State League | Frank Verdi |
| A | Shelby Yankees | Western Carolinas League | Gary Blaylock |
| Rookie | Johnson City Yankees | Appalachian League | Lamar North |
| Rookie | SRL Yankees | Sarasota Rookie League | Billy Shantz |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Fort Lauderdale, Johnson City